Being Truthful About Vehicle Issues

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Hubby say car ding wasn’t his bad?  Don’t believe him” suggested that spouses are often not truthful about traffic violation tickets they may receive, paying the vehicle insurance bill, putting a scratch or “ding” in the car, etc.

The actual statistics for such non truthful items follow.

1.  The percent of spouses who reported they did put a “ding’ in the car, yet did not report that fact to their spouse, but blamed it on someone else was 35 per cent!

2.  One fourth (24 per cent) of those surveyed reported that they did not report a traffic violation ticket to their spouses.

3.  Almost one fourth (24 per cent)of those surveyed confirmed that they did not report an accident to their spouses.

4.  Almost one fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed admitted they did not tell their spouse when they forgot to pay a vehicle insurance bill.

5.  Almost one fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed revealed they had knowingly driven a vehicle without a valid driver’s license but not shared that information with their spouses.

These above results were determined from a survey of 1,000 married couples completed by an insurance shopping and information site found at  >Insure.com<.        

Contact Andrea Shearer, Burton Heginger, Tessa Everman, or Ryan Edgington at Triplett Companies  (515/232-5240) for your insurance needs!  However, be sure to tell your spouse!     

Plan Ahead For Your Future!

Maybe you're not ready to move into it but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take advantage of the present opportunities to acquire the home you want to live in during retirement. The combination of the low interest rates, reduced prices and lower competition may never be this good again in our lifetimes.
The rental market is strong and a tenant could pay for your retirement home. The cash flows are attractive and the yield is bound to be stronger than what you're currently earning. Even if you don't retire to this home, it could be a placeholder to control the costs of the home you do move into.
One thought would be to finance it with a 15 year loan that will have a lower rate than that of a 30 year loan and it will obviously amortize in half the time. Even if you don't have the home paid for by the time you retire, your equity will be larger.
Ideally, if you sell your current home when your move into this retirement home, you may be able to take up to $500,000 of tax-free gain for a married couple. That profit could be used to fund your retirement.
With home prices and mortgage rates certain to rise, this may be one of the best decisions you can make. We want to be your personal source of real estate information and we're committed to helping from purchase to sale and all the years in between.

Sale by Surviving Spouse

The IRS has given special consideration regarding the sale of their jointly-owned principal residence after the death of a spouse. If the surviving spouse does not remarry prior to the sale of the home, they may qualify to exclude up to $500,000 of gain instead of the $250,000 exclusion for single people.

• The sale needs to take place after 2008 and no more than two years after the date of death of the spouse
• Surviving spouse must not have remarried
• Both spouses must have used the home as their principal residences for two of the last five years prior to the death
• Both spouses must have owned the home for two of the last five years prior to the death
• Neither spouse may have excluded gain from the sale of another principal residence during the last two years prior to the death

If you have been widowed in the last two years and have gain in your principal residence, it would be worth investigating the possibilities. Contact your tax professional for advice about your specific situation. Contact us to find out what your home is worth in today's market. See IRS Publication 523 - surviving spouse.